Sunday, January 22, 2006

Healthier Us!

Over three weeks into the New Year, and all year, so far, we've been eating pretty healthfully. We've had take away once - pizza... The boys have had Hungry Jacks once, that's it, all the rest has been home prepared food, and that is a big change for us in and of itself.

Moreso, we've changed our dinner menu considerably. Introducing a lot more fresh vegies. Our out more processed food. When Erik was a baby, we ate very healthfully, but somehow we let that slide after Luey was born, and in the past 2-3 years things had really slipped... We were eating a lot of processed foods. Meat meals every night, frozen vegies, if any at all... We were eating a lot of jar based meat/sauce/pasta or rice dishes, not a lot of vegies, and certainly not fresh ones, unless potatoes count...

I knew this wasn't good, but we were in the bad habit of buying night to night, instead of weekly shops, and so we didn't have the food in the house, and also we were always looking to cut corners because we were always tired (probably because we didn't eat any fresh foods!)...

So, anyway, just before Christmas we started shopping online (Dave's idea), and it has made a big difference. First of all, it gave me a good look at what we do eat. Secondly, when our motherboard died and we were computerless, I had to get Jen to put in an order for us, and as I read out our list, I found myself feeling rather embarrassed by the lack of fresh food on our shopping list...

So, we've made changes. In the picture above you see the boys seated for dinner last night (yeah, my boys get around in their undies/nappies mostly in summer)... In front of them is the dinner I made (to those of you who know me well, don't laugh, it didn't require cooking, so no chancing of burning anything)... We had lettuce, then tuna and five bean salad with whole fat mayonnaise (chose whole over lite, have you seen how much sugar is in the lite variety???)... Dice tomato, and corn. The boys actually liked it! Erik cleaned his plate and asked for more. Luey wasn't too keen on the beans, but ate some and finished everything else. Dave still needed to eat a sandwich afterward, even though I found it quite filling (he craves carbs, there just weren't enough of them for him)... On the whole though, it was a success... And this is how it's been all week.

I feel such a sense of relief, really, knowing we're doing the right thing by the kids. Yes, they'd rather have fish and chips, but well how about once in a while instead of once a week?

Oh, and for the past six weeks I've drank between 6-8 litres of plain mineral water each week (I buy in bulk). Now, I know you're supposed to drink like 2-3 litres of water a day, and I fall short of that, especially as I do drink coffee, which counteracts water consumption. However, before six weeks ago I hardly every drank water, maybe a litre a week, and I was still drink coffee, and about 12 litres of Coke a week... So, I really happy with my efforts there!

3 comments:

Amazing how just a simple look at what we eat can hel pchange it huh fantastic effort I hope you are able to keep it going.. Oh nice idea about the non cooked meal last night the weather certainly warranted it!

Yeah, as I said to Dave, if we have the good stuff (whole fat) we'll enjoy it more, and eat less (which was true because the whole mayonnaise coated the tuna and beans better, and went further, so didn't need as much...

Also, being hypoglycemic, I know sugar triggers swings in my mood and energy levels and can be very disruptive. I'm working on cutting it way back, and have done great in that facet of my working on myself this year (12 litres of Coke per week to none, and binging every night on chocolate etc. to having cereal and yogurt, and cutting back from two to one sugar in my coffee - as off tomorrow, no sugar, except for one coffee a day)...